16 Things We Love About Our Campervan

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After living in our campervan for a year traveling to more than 36 US National Parks, 40 States, the Baja Peninsula of Mexico, & Canada we’ve had many frustrations with vanlife. But there are some things we love– about life on the road & our van in particular that keep us coming back.

We’ve written about our inexperience as car-campers and the unromantic realities of van-dwelling (never-ending van chores, eating the same meals over & over, and the exhausting search for a place to sleep just to name a few). But truthfully, as difficult as vanlife can sometimes be…we love our campervan.

We built her ourselves for under $4,000. & for the past year, she’s helped us get to know the U.S. more intimately and experience the natural wonders of North America- from the crystal clear blue lagoons of Florida to the red rock deserts of Utah– on a backpacker’s budget. 

Since I so often write about all the things I hate about vanlife, & try to burst that Instagram-idealized bubble that has been cast around van-living, I figured I should share all the things I love about my campervan. Just to level the playing field.

To Future Van Builders: Take note of the things I really cherish in my vanbuild because it’s never the things you think are going to be important.

16 Things We Love About Our DIY Campervan

1. The price tag. 

In hindsight, I’m so thankful that we didn’t spend a small fortune on a van that we now realize that we could never live in FULL-TIME. 

Many vans (Sprinters) cost upwards of $50,000 & that’s without considering the build. We chose budget-friendly options out of necessity but we now realize that was for the best. Unless you have money to burn, (& if you do you might be on the wrong blog) you should at the very least try out vanlife with a budget-friendly vehicle. 

Consider Traveller’s Autobarn or Escape Van for a short trip. Or build out a budget vehicle like us & see if this lifestyle is truly for you before you invest some serious cash. 

Isn’t a year in a van “full-time”? Touche. When I say full-time, I’m talking about van-dwellers who live in a vehicle with no end in sight. For many people van-dwelling isn’t for a long-term trip or travel agenda– it’s a lifestyle. It’s was also a lifestyle I thought that **maybe** we would want for ourselves in the future. Actually living the van experience for the past year has ruled this option out for us. Don’t get me wrong, we could spend several years in a van, but this isn’t a viable permanent living situation. 

Here’s a few more blog posts about vanlife.

2. We love our campervan windows.

I swear every van-dweller I asked advised me otherwise, but I kept most of my windows. I have two on my side doors, one large one on the same side and two on my rear doors. Everyone said I should insulate & build over them because of privacy & the extra heat I’ll inevitably lose in the winter, but I didn’t. And I LOVE my windows. 

I’m such a sucker for natural light and without windows being stuck inside the van is miserable.  Yes, we do lose more heat BUT we just use insulated window covers when it’s cold. That also solves our privacy problems. 

3. Taking the time to make our van feel like home. 

I’m not talking about crafting the perfect Instagram van here. I’m talking about the cozy little details you can do, even with a small budget, to make living in the van more enjoyable. For us the details we love about our campervan are…

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• Choosing wood panel walls to create a little log cabin. 
• Making curtains to cover any storage areas that didn’t have doors. 
• Getting a rug for the hardwood floor & choosing a color scheme we both liked. 
• Putting decorations on the walls. 
• Crafting custom kitchen cabinet doors that look like mountains. 
• Bringing books, candles, lots of extra blankets, and even a few throw pillows. 

4. That we chose to insulate. Heavily. 

We’re not cold weather people. In fact, we avoid snow like the plague. We’re beach people. We island hopped in Indonesia and spent a month backpacking Sri Lanka’s surfer coast. We chose to drive the Baja Peninsula of Mexico in the sweltering heat of summer. But sometimes, in the US & Canada, if you want to adventure to high elevations it’s gonna get cold. & we are from the Pacific Northwest after all. 

We chose to 100% gut and insulate our 1994 Dodge Ram Van. We used three kinds of insulation; polyiso foam boards, Gaps & Cracks Foam Filler, and traditional fluffy yellow fiberglass batts. Even in sub-zero temps, our van stays toasty warm. We don’t have a heater (because it used too much electricity) and as I mentioned we have TONS of windows. Instead, we try to cover those with Reflectix insulating window covers though when it’s chilly. 

We didn’t bother with floor insulation. & the wood doesn’t get that cold anyways. 

5. Our Captains Chairs. 

1990’s Blue Velvet Captains chairs to be exact. Sitting in the car for a long time can hurt your body. But even on long stretches, when we drove cross country (here’s our epic route) we never had a problem. I can’t tell you why they are so comfortable and cozy but my only complaint is that they don’t swivel for extra seating when we’re hanging out in the van. But you can’t have everything. 

6. That we didn’t waste space on a bathroom. 

This is one of those things that just sucks about vanlife. Finding a bathroom is inconvenient. But I stand by our decision to not build one into the van. They smell (even when they say they don’t) and take up valuable space in an already tiny living room. 

7. Or waste power on a fridge. 

We use a cooler-style plug-in fridge. This one to be exact. & it works well. But we also try to gravitate toward foods that don’t require refrigeration. Most days our fridge is off and I love how quickly this model gets down to temp and can easily be plugged into our cigarette lighter port while we drive.

8. How comfy our bed is. 

We built our bed by purchasing this 6-inch foam mattress & carefully cutting it to our exact van dimensions. & I swear it’s the most comfortable bed to sleep on. After a long day of driving or exploring you want a comfy cozy bed to retire to.

9. That we choose a sink with a foot pump. 

Many van-dwellers choose to forgo water systems & instead go with the camping-style jug with a spigot. We chose to create a very simple water system with two buckets (one for greywater, one for clean) a little bit of beverage-safe plastic piping, a small drop-in sink, and a marine foot pump.

This system lets us do dishes and keep the van clean easily. Which is vitally important to my partner. Not so much to me. It also prevents catastrophic spills.

10. Our swing-open doors; both on the back & side. 

I just like them. & it allows you to take epic van photos like these.

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11. That we can easily access the rear while driving. 

This is both a safety feature and for convenience. Often vanlifers will blockade off the cabin of the vehicle by building cabinets or a kitchen in this area. Yes, it utilizes oh so valuable space but now to move from the living area to the driving area you have to get out of the vehicle and enter through the driver’s door.

There are a few reasons I don’t like this and we kept that area free and clear of construction.

1. If you land yourself in a sketchy situation at night you have to get out of the car to drive away. I much prefer to just keep the car locked and hop up front with ease.
2. When I’m riding shotgun (always) I like to climb into the back to grab things like snacks & books without stalling the trip. This is the exact opposite of safety but it’s the ugly truth.

12. Our between the seat storage area. 

We got a nice big basket to tuck away items we want easily accessible while driving. Like a camera, snacks, jackets. It helps keep us organized. It’s one of the little things we love about our campervan design.

13. Wood floors make clean-up easy.

We used Home Depot Vinyl planks and they couldn’t have been easier. They also really add to the finished ‘homey’ look of our van. Trust us, dirt, dust, and sand accumulate and you’ll probably want to sweep every day but with a smooth floor like this, it will be very easy.

14. That our paddleboard sits perfectly underneath our bed/table. 

While I wouldn’t recommend our ‘bed that turns into a table and benches’ situation (we just never take the time to convert it), one of the things we love about our campervan isthat it gives us storage space both inside the benches and underneath the table in the center. & the fact that this space so perfectly fits our favorite paddleboard is even better. 

15. We love that we built our campervan.

This probably goes without saying but just knowing that we painstakingly built our van with no previous construction experience or knowledge makes us love it (& all its imperfections) even more. Many van-dwellers pay someone else to build their dream adventure vehicle. & I get it. It’s overwhelming to think about doing it on your own. Especially considering you probably don’t have the space or tools on hand for such a project. Yet alone the time. Although it only took us 6 weeks, it was a massive undertaking and extremely challenging the entire way through. 

But it gave us invaluable life skills and …we just feel good about ourselves because of it. 

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Money can buy lots of things. But once you’re on the road you’ll find the van-dwellers with the most pride in their vehicle earned it by building it out with their own two hands. 

If you need a little guidance for your van build specifically with the complicated blueprint planning or electrical system (solar or not) I would join Two Wandering Soles Van Build Academy. 

We spent literally HOURS every day of our build trying to decipher blog posts & Youtube Videos for every step of the build process. Their Academy does all that work for you and lays out the easiest step-by-step guides for all kinds of van builds. It’s an investment for budget builders like us at $297 but that includes ALL their build guides, access to their FB pages where they & fellow builders answer personalized questions, and coupons for expensive products you’ll likely buy anyway. 

16. Getting a conversion van that allows us to stealth camp.

I refuse to pay for campsites. The ENTIRE reason I built a campervan was to save money on travel in the United States. Even basic sites cost $20-40 in the US. I’m not gonna do it. Instead, we stealth camp because our van allows us to. Mostly, because it’s not immediately apparent that it’s a campervan. Sprinter’s give a little more away.

Be sure to read my entire guide on prepping your van for stealth camping (wild camping, boondocking, whatever you want to call it) and tips for finding the best free camping spots in cities and in the wilderness.

The truth is we love campervan travel. & there are lots of things we love about our campervan. I love that we can pick up at a moment’s notice and move to a new destination. It’s extremely convenient to have all your stuff move around the country on your back like a snail. We have been blessed to see more of our home country than we ever originally thought possible. & we couldn’t have done it without our trusty (sometimes) van Pheobe.

Want to know the things we would change about our campervan if we could? 

Because honestly, there are quite a few of them. We’re inexperienced first-time builders. Check out this blog post to read them all.

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